These rankings include datasets and studies which track the status of a country and compare countries based on different indicators, in the areas of conflict, economics, education, energy, environment, health, human rights, politics, and technology. Critiques of these types of indexes are included, describing why they can be detrimental to development progress and how comparison exercises could be improved.

Bernie Adeney-Risakotta and Siti Syamsiyatun of Gadjah Mada University's Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies discuss the role of gender and Islam in Indonesian public policy, as part of CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative.

Shannon O’Neil will become director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy program (CSMD), and Rachel Vogelstein will become director of the Women and Foreign Policy program (WFP), replacing Isobel Coleman, who formerly directed both initiatives. Ambassador Coleman is now the U.S. representative to the United Nations for UN management and reform.

Elliott Abrams, CFR’s senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, discusses the state of U.S.-Israel relations in light of the Israeli elections and ongoing talks over Iran’s nuclear program, as part of CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Conference Call series.

Alfred C. Stepan, founding director of Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion, discusses democracy and religious tolerance in Tunisia, as part of CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative.

Alfred C. Stepan, founding director of Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion, discusses democracy and religious tolerance in Tunisia, as part of CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative.

Multicultural policies accept that societies are diverse, yet they implicitly assume that such diversity ends at the edges of minority communities. By forcing people into ethnic and cultural boxes, they help create the very divisions they were meant to manage.

Though data is scarce given conditions on the ground, reports of child marriage abound amid natural disaster and conflict; parents desperate to protect their daughters may view the practice as their best option. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon and Kristin Kim Bart discuss strategies to protect girls from child marriage and gender-based violence in fragile states.

Elliot L. Ackerman, author of Green on Blue: A Novel, Matthew Gallagher, author of Youngblood, and Michael Pitre, author of Fives and Twenty-Fives, join PEN American Center's Peter Godwin, to discuss the authors’ military experiences during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and what led each of them to write war-related novels.

Elliot L. Ackerman, author of Green on Blue: A Novel, Matthew Gallagher, author of Youngblood, and Michael Pitre, author of Fives and Twenty-Fives, join PEN American Center's Peter Godwin, to discuss the authors’ military experiences during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and what led each of them to write war-related novels.

Elliot L. Ackerman, author of Green on Blue: A Novel, Matthew Gallagher, author of Youngblood, and Michael Pitre, author of Fives and Twenty-Fives, join PEN American Center's Peter Godwin, to discuss the authors' military experiences during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and what led each of them to write war-related novels.

Elliot L. Ackerman, author of Green on Blue: A Novel, Matthew Gallagher, author of Youngblood, and Michael Pitre, author of Fives and Twenty-Fives, join PEN American Center's Peter Godwin, to discuss the authors’ military experiences during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and what led each of them to write war-related novels.

CFR Experts Guide

The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.

The authors argue that the United States has responded inadequately to the rise of Chinese power and recommend placing less strategic emphasis on the goal of integrating China into the international system and more on balancing China's rise.

Campbell evaluates the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency and recommends that the United States support Nigerian efforts to address the drivers of Boko Haram, such as poverty and corruption, and to foster stronger ties with Nigerian civil society.

2014 Annual Report

Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2014 Annual Report. The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download »